Gardening: Growing Your Own Vegetables

Vegetable gardening has lately become just as popular as going to the
grocery store fore produce. Vegetable gardening can produce vegetable
that are usually cheaper than store bought, and vegetables from a home
vegetable garden definitely taste better by far. Vegetable gardening
is no different than growing herbs or flowers and if the proper steps
are taken and the plants are give the proper care they will flourish
and produce very tasty vegetables.
First you must decide what size of garden you wish to plant and then
select a place for it; somewhere that has good drainage, good air flow,
and good, deep soil. It also needs to be able to get as much sunlight
as possible. Because vegetable gardens have such tasty rewards, many
animals, such as dogs, rabbits, deer, and many others will try and get
to your veggies. One way to prevent this is to surround your garden
with a fence, or put out a trap to catch mice, moles, and other animals.
Before planting, the soil must be properly prepared. Good soil for
vegetable gardening is achieved by cultivation and the application of
organic materials. The soil must be tilled (plowed) to control weeds
and mix mulch into the soil. If you have a small garden, spading could
be a better bet than plowing. Mulching is also a vital part of soil
preparation. Organic matter added to the soil releases nitrogen,
minerals, and other nutrients plants need to thrive. The most popular
and best type of mulch you can use is compost. While the kind and
amount of fertilizer used depends on the soil and types of plants,
there are some plants that have specific needs; leafy plants, like
cabbage, spinach, and lettuce usually grow better with more nitrogen,
while root crops like potatoes, beets, turnips, and carrots require
more potash. Tomatoes and beans use less fertilizer, while plants like
onions, celery, and potatoes need a larger amount.
One thing that is vitally important in vegetable gardening is the
garden arrangement. There is no single plan that will work for every
garden due to varying conditions. One popular way to arrange a
vegetable garden is to plant vegetables needing only limited space
together, such as radishes, lettuce, beets, and spinach, and those that
require more room together, such as corn, pumpkins, and potatoes. Try
and plant tall growing plants towards the back of the garden and
shorter ones in the front so that their sunlight does not get blocked.
When you are finally ready to begin planting your vegetable garden,
make sure and plant at the right time of year. If you are dying to get
an early start, you may want begin your garden inside in a hotbed and
then transplant when the weather permits. After you are finished
planting, make sure your vegetables receive the appropriate amount of
water, which depends on the type of plant. Most plants will need the
equivalent to about an inch of water per week.
Weeds must be controlled in vegetable gardening because they will take
up water, light, and nutrients meant for the vegetables and they often
bring disease and insects to the garden. You can get rid of weeds by
cultivation or mulching. To protect against disease and insects you
can buy seeds that are disease resistant or use controlled chemicals.
Vegetable gardening is many peoples favorite form of gardening because
you can actually taste the fruits of your labor. Vegetable gardening
is not that expensive to start and the taste of home grown veggies
definitely beat out that of supermarket vegetables. Your vegetable
gardening days will be full of produce if you take the proper
precautions when planting and continue maintenance of your garden.Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

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